Somaliland:Dahabshiil Group funds Youths to Reduce Migration

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Dahabshiil Group’s microfinance arm MicroDahab MFI has stepped up support for youths through funding their startups. By so doing, the firm hopes to reduce migration of young people to Europe in search of jobs.The company, launched slightly over a year ago, started out with 250 clients in Nairobi, Hargeisa, Mogadishu and Garoowe among other towns in Eastern Africa. It currently has more than 21,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries of the programme.

“Dahabshiil encourages young men and women to present their business ideas. We can offer funding of between $5,000 and $25,000 depending on our assessment,” Dahabshiil’s microfinance manager Abdirahman Osman Abdi said. “Our major objective at Dahabshiil is to foster initiatives for young people to stop them from involving themselves in crime,” he said.

MicroDahab MFI provides seed funding to micro, small and medium enterprises founded by youths. The company said the programme has also helped young entrepreneurs invest money they receive from the diaspora in legal businesses that uplift lives of people in rural areas, especially poor households.

Youths who receive funding from MicroDahab and majority of the diaspora remittances through the Dahabshiil network are now engaged in business, ranging from barber shops to small-holder farming among others, the firm said. “We are helping our clients with products they need to transform their lives and the fortunes of their communities in socially responsible ways,” Dahabshiil Group CEO Abdirashid Duale said.